Overflow attachment for bath-tubs or the like.



(Application filed May 19, 1902.)

(No Model.)-

UNITED STATES PAT NT ()FFICE.

HUGH MERRIE AND ALFRED EUGENE BURNETT, J R., OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

OVERFLOW ATTACHMENT FOR BATH-TUBS OR THE LIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 706,983, dated August 12, 1902.

Application filed May 19, 1902.

T at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HUGH MERRIE and AL- FRED EUGENE BURNETT, J r.,'citizens of the United States of America,and residents of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overflow Attachments for Bath-Tubs or the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in overflow attachments such as are adapted for use upon bath-tubs and the like for carrying off the water after a certainlevel in the tub has been reached; and the object of the invention is to provide a device of this character of a simple and inexpensive nature and of a light and strong construction which shall be capable of a certain degree of adjustment to permit of using it in connection with tubs of difierent forms, so that a special formation of the attachment for each shape of tub is avoided and the deviceis made ca- .pableby adjustment of its parts for use in connection with different tubs. l

The invention consists in certain novel fea-' tures of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved overflow attachment whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and is otherwise better adapted and made more convenient for use than various other forms of overflow attachment heretofore employed, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of theinvention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate our invention, Figure 1 is a seetional view taken through an end portion of a bath-tub and showing ourimproved overflow attachment applied theretoin position for use. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing portions of the parts'illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View showing the upper portion of the overflow-pipe detached. Fig. l is a view showing the member which forms a connection between the tub and the overflow-pipe.

As shown in the views, 1 indicates the end wall of the bath-tub to which our improved overflow attachment is applied. This end $erial No.108,005. (No model.)

wall is usually extended at an inclination to the vertical, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and in different tubs,and more especially in those made bydifferent manufacturers, the inclinationof the end walls to the vertical is varied, some tubs having less and others more inclination. It is the object of the present invention to provide an attachment whichby the adjustment of its parts or members shall be adapted to fit or accommodate itself to these Variations in inclination, so as to permit of more conveniently setting up the tub with the overflow-pipe vertically ex tended in position for ready connection with the waste-pipe.

2 indicates the overflow-pipe. extended vertically outside of the inclined end wall'l of the tub and having at its lower end, as shown at 3, connection with a waste-pipe. The overflow-pipe 2 carries "at its upper end an elbow or L-shaped coupling member 4, which maybe held thereon by screw-threads or otherwise and which has its outer projecting free portion expanded or made of increased diameter, as shown at 5, its outer annular surface being set at a slight angle to the vertical plane in which the body portion of the overflow-pipe 2 is extended. The enlarged outer portion 5 of the member 4 is formed in its interior with a semispherical surface 6, with which is adapted 'for seating contact a similarly-formed surface 7, produced on the outer side of a projecting flange or boss 8 upon a thin metal disk or member 9, the marginal portion of which is flattened and is adapted for close contact upon the outer side of the end wall 1 of the bath-tub, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said member 9 being of a diameter greater than that of the overflowopening 1 in said end wall 1 of the tub, so that its flattened marginal portion shall when the device is attached to the tub fit the surface of the tub around said openingl, as shown in the drawings. The member 9 will be usually formed from thin sheet metal, stamped or struck up to shape to'produce the flange or boss 8 upon its outer side.

indicates the overflow-guard for the tub,

which is also formed from thin sheet metal struck or stamped to form and provided with a central outwardly-pressed perforated per 'tion adapted to be extended over the overflow-opening l in the tub, as shown in Figs.

1 and 2, and with a flattened marginal poropening 1 to hold the guard in proper posi- The guard 10 tion relative to said opening. is also formed with a central opening through which is extendeda screw or bolt 14, the outer end of which is enlarged or headed, as shown M13, and is adapted to press against the outer side of the guard to hold the same in place over the overflow-opening in the tub, said headed end beingalso provided in the usual way with an opening'to receive a chain, (not shown,) to which may be attached a stopper for the waste outlet of the tub. The threaded inner end of the screw or bolt 14: is adapted for engagement with an interiorlyscrew-threaded opening produced in a boss 15, central in the hollow of the member 4 of the attachment and held upon arms 16 16, integral with said member and extended across the hollow thereof, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In applying the improved overflow attachment to a tub the guard 10 is first laid against the inside of the end wall 1 of the tub, and

j the screw or bolt 14. is then passed through the central opening in the guard, after which the member 9 is applied on the outside of the end wall 1, with its marginal portion flat upon the said wall around the overflow-opening,

the screw or bolt 14 then projecting through.

the central opening within the flange or boss 80f said member. The overflow-pipe 2 is next applied,with its member 4 outside of the member 8, so that the surfaces 6 and 7 of the respective parts will be in position for contact with each other. The screw or bolt 14 being then turned will be screwed through the opening in the boss 15, so as to draw the several parts closely together, and thereby to hold them in relation. The member 9 being formed, as above stated, from thin sheet metal, its marginal portion will conform when the screw 14 is turned with any irregularities or roughness'on the end wall of the bath-tub. The contacting surfaces of the attachment will usually be first coated with lead in order to provide a tight joint between them.

When the parts are assembled as above set forth, it will be evident that the member 4 upon the overflow-pipe 2 is adapted for a certain extent of movement upon the member 9, which is held flat-against the'end wall of the tub, and in this way the surfaces 6 and 7 playing upon each other the overflowpipe 2 may be adjusted to stand in a perpendicular position irrespective of the inclina tion at which the end wall 1 of the bath-tub stands.

From the above description of our improveroeess ments it will be seen that the improved overopening of the tub and the pipe 2, so that leak- I age at this point is avoided. It will also be evident from the above description that the improved overflow attachment constructed according to our invention is capable of some modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device herein set forth.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I j 1. An overflow attachment for bath-tubs and the like comprising two members one of which is adapted fol-connection with the overflow-pipe and has an annular concave seat and the other of which is formed from a piece of sheet metal having a central opening and provided with a fiat annular marginal portion adapted for engagement against the wall of the tub around the overflow-opening therein said last-named member having an annular projecting portion inside the fiat marginal portion and surrounding its central opening with a semispherical convex surface adapted to fit inside the concaveseat of the first-named member and means for holding said members in relation, substantially as set forth.

2. An overflow attachment for bath-tubs and the like comprising an overflow-pipe having a coupling member provided in its interior with a concave semispherical seating-surface, another coupling member formed from sheet metal with a central opening and a flat marginal portion adapted to fit against the wall of a tub around the overflow-opening therein and having a projecting portion formed exteriorly with a convex semispherical surface adapted for engagement within the first-named member and in contact with the concave seating-surface therein, and means for holding the coupling members to a bath-tub or the like, substantially as set forth. I

3. An overflow attachment for bath-tubs therein, a screw passed through the guard and engaged in the screw-threaded part of the member on the overflowpipe and another coupling memberformedfromthin metal with Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 16th day a flattened marginal portion adapted to fit of May, 1902. outside the bath-tub around the overflow- HUGH MERRIE. opening thereof and with an annular pro ect- N x M w 5 ing portion the outer surface of which is ALFRED BUBBLE BURNLTFI formed to correspond and fit upon the internal WVitnesses: semispherical surface of the first-named rneln- JOHN ELIAS JONES, ber, substantially as set forth. L. M. JONES. 

